I make an apology for not getting the facts about the fire. I made the wrong conclusion from the ABC Radio news item.
Below are the details of the item and the facts about the fire. Note that the text of the ABC news item below is NOT what I heard on the ABC 720 radio bulletin (it was either the 07:45 or the 09:00 bulletin from memory). There was explicit mention of 20 birds, and I did not hear explicit mention of Cape Arid NP. I had not heard until last night that there had been fires in the park. I must have heard the word “cell” and made a completely wrong conclusion. There was no explicit mention of captive birds. I made that conclusion and I was wrong. The item was only on one news bulletin, but this did not surprise me at the time as the ABC often have country items on the early news, and they are dropped later for the Perth news when the country goes to their own programs. However, none of this makes my statement correct, or excuses me in any way from checking further on the details. I should have checked further.
The captive birds are fine by the way. They are located near Albany. I should have known this. I had heard this but it didn’t occur to me. My mistake. The fire makes these birds even more important to the future of the recovery of this species. The two major threats that have been identified are fires and feral cats. This could have been the fire that was the last straw. Thankfully to DEC the loss was limited to one area.
>Here is a copy of the ABC news item: >——————————————————- >Western Australian fires threaten endangered parrot > >Monday, 31/01/2011 >Bushfires that burnt more than 6000 hectares of bush in the Cape >Arid National Park in Western Australia have destroyed part of the >habitat of the critically endangered Western Ground Parrot. >Cape Arid was home to around 120 of the parrots, the largest largest >remaining population in the world. >Manager of the Department of Environment and Conservation’s >Esperance office, Klaus Tiedermann, says an unknown number of birds >were killed when one of the six cells containing the parrots was destroyed. >”We had to pull the firefighters out because of their safety, so we >have lost one of the cells.” >The Department of Environment and Conservation estimates there are >fewer than 200 of the birds left in the wild. >——————————————————– > >The facts: >A bushfire started by lightning has burnt part of the habitat >occupied by Western Ground Parrots in Cape Arid National Park. This >is an unfortunate occurrence, which is of serious concern to the >recovery team and to local managers. >DEC staff did their best to stop the fire as quickly as possible, >using heavy earthmoving equipment and heavy-duty fire trucks, but >wind and temperature conditions resulted in several major >’hop-overs’, making it very difficult to contain the fire. Safety of >personnel was a significant issue under these conditions. However, >the fire is now out, and some parts of the occupied Western Ground >Parrot habitat at this site remain unburnt. Given the conditions, >the result could have been far worse, as the fire could have moved >into other occupied patches of habitat. >While it is possible that some birds succumbed to the fire, it is >not known whether any were killed, and it is more likely that they >moved ahead of the fire, as they are known to be strong flyers, and >known to be capable of moving ahead of fires. In particular, young >birds, at least, are known to disperse at this time of year. >There is no establishment or enclosure in this area. As the news >item said, it was habitat that was burnt. > >If you are unclear about any of the events, or their actual or >possible consequences, or any aspect of Ground Parrot biology or >management, please ask. You could ask me Allan Burbidge, or a >representative of the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot (Brenda >Newbey or Anne Bondin) or one of the BA representatives on the >recovery team (Brenda Newbey or John Blyth). These people would be >more than happy to talk to you about any of these matters.
_________________________________________________________________ Frank O’Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email : foconnor@iinet.net.au
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